Plans for the House!

The move is coming up so fast! I'm excited, scared, and all sorts of other things! I have all sorts of plans for our new house. I just can't decide when we should start moving our things in. I'm completely torn between starting to move things in on day 2 so we can start living there, or waiting a few weeks so we can get more work done without living in chaos. That's one reason I'm awake right now. Sometimes at night I just get something stuck in my head and I can't sleep. I'm finally starting to get really sleepy again, but we have to be up in less than an hour, so trying to go back to sleep is pointless. Today is going to be a very rough day for me :-/

Anyway, we're set to close on the 20th. It's coming SO fast! I'm still a little worried something crazy will happen. As I posted before, our inspection went fine. We're still waiting on our appraisal...I feel like it's taking forever! It's been about a week and a half and I'm not very patient. We've done pretty much everything we need to do. We just need to purchase our homeowner's insurance, which we plan on doing early this week. After that, it's just a waiting game :-/

We're still working on our plan but for now we don't plan on moving anything in on the first day. My dad will be coming and we're going to make a few repairs/changes/upgrades on that first day. Right now, all the light switches & covers are that ugly beige color. My dad is going to change them all to white. Josh and I will be working on the cabinets. We've decided that refinishing them will make a huge difference in the kitchen. I can't wait to see how they turn out. I've been doing research for the past week or so. I'll definitely post before & after pics of it. 

Here's another look at the kitchen 

We'll be staining the cabinets a dark color. We have it narrowed to 2 shades. We'll also be adding some brushed nickel hardware to the cabinets. I think those 2 things alone will do SO much for this space. The counters are going to stay for a while, but we'll eventually replace them with granite (or something...we're considering our options and there's a new recycled material we want to research a little more). The upper cabinets will be raised closer to the ceiling. This will make it harder for me to reach and I'm not super crazy about it, but it's the only way we can put a microwave over the stove. I'm starting to consider just keeping a range hood and getting a microwave cart for the microwave. It would definitely be less work and I like the height of the cabinets the way they are now. 

Here is a little bit of inspiration. These cabinets were actually painted black. I prefer stain, but we found an ebony stain that I think would be perfect for a look similar to this. I like the granite color too. We looked at stain colors and granite at Lowe's yesterday, just to get an idea. I'm leaning toward a look similar to this one. Josh is leaning toward a lighter cabinet (his favorite stain was red mahogany) and darker counters. I really like both looks, I just don't know which one I like better! 

I know this is a crappy picture, but this is the cabinet color Josh likes.

I think either way we go, we'll love it. I can't wait to get started!

Happy Mother's Day!

Happy Mother's Day (a little late) to all the Moms! Unfortunately, I wasn't able to spend this Mother's Day with my mom. We'll be going home next weekend though, so we'll celebrate then. 

 This past Friday was an off Friday for Josh. I'm used to seeing him playing Halo or something when I come in from work so that's what I expected this past Friday. I was in for a surprise! I came in to a clean apartment and some of my favorite flowers!

It was really sweet and I was so excited. He had planned on having dinner ready for me too, but I messed up those plans. I made arrangements to go pick up a weed eater I found on Craigslist right after work. He had the chicken marinating and ready to cook when we got back though. He made chicken in a balsamic marinade, green beans and baked potatoes. It was delicious and I didn't have to lift a finger :-) Such a sweet hubby. He has set the bar pretty high for when we have human babies ;-)

On Mother's Day, we decided to take Bailey to a new park for a picnic. We had plans to do this last weekend, but it rained. We were feeling lazy so we picked up some Subway for us to eat. After eating lunch we decided to take a walk around the lake. It was a beautiful day for a nice long walk. I'm glad it was such a nice day, we had probably a 3 mile walk total! 

 Near the beginning of our walk, the first time she was near the water. She had no interest at all in the ducks, there were way too many sticks around and apparently they're much more exciting. 

 Adorable

 She found a stick that was covered in grass, I don't think anything could have made her happier.

 A groundhog!

 No idea what kind of bird this is, but he's pretty.

I love this pic, even though you can barely see Bailey.

On the way home, she was so tired. This is only about 3 minutes into the ride.

It was a really great, but tiring day. It probably took us 1.5-2 hours to get around the lake. Puppies attract kids so we made tons of stops. We also stopped to train her for a little bit since there were so many distractions. She actually did really well! She did fine with most of the dogs too. We met so many different dogs, which was really good for her! There were 2 yappy little curly things that were a little mean to her but other than that we had a great experience. We saw dogs of all sizes. I think our favorite was a lab. He was only a year old so he's still got a lot of puppy in him. We saw him near the end of the day so she was a little more open to him. We let them sniff & play a little bit. They were adorable. I wish I could have taken pictures with some of the dogs/people we met but I would have felt awkward asking all those strangers to take pictures with their dogs & babies. Haha. 

Carne Asada Burritos

For  Cinco De Mayo I wanted to make a yummy Mexican dish. I found this recipe and decided to give it a try. Of course, I tweaked it a little. I had a flank steak on hand, so I just sliced it & used it rather than searching for Carne Asada beef.

Ingredients:
(Ingredients with a star are my additions) 

- 1/2 c EVOO

- 2 T Lime Juice (I used fresh limes but feel free to use Real Lime)
- 1/2 t Ground Cumin
* 1/2 t Chili Powder
- 1/4 t Kosher Salt
- 1/4 t black pepper
* 1 t Cilantro
- 1/2 c Chopped Onion
- 2 Cloves Garlic, Minced
- 1 lb Flank Steak, sliced
- Tortillas

Directions:



Combine EVOO, lime juice, cumin, chili powder, salt, pepper, onion, garlic and cilantro. Pour over flank steak and marinate for at least 1 hour. I let mine marinate for about 2.

Add about 2 T Vegetable Oil to a grill pan and heat to medium. Cook meat about 3 minutes on each side. Let rest then cut into thin strips.

I decided to make a platter with all the toppings so we could make our own burritos. I used the meat, guacamole, Bush's Refried Black Beans, Mexican/Spanish rice that I threw together, and a mixture of corn, red bell peppers and onions. We also had cheese and sour cream. This was SO good! We had enough leftovers for lunch one day and for breakfast burritos another day. For the breakfast burritos I just added scrambled eggs and salsa.

For the rice, I didn't measure anything. It was something I decided to make last minute so I didn't really use a recipe. I just used a cup of rice. I cooked it in chicken stock. I added some chopped onion & garlic, cilantro, cumin, chili powder, leftover tomato from the guacamole and a little bit of crushed red pepper. I added the juices from the meat after it was finished cooking for a little more flavor. I was actually very pleased with how it turned out :-)



I'll definitely be making this again!

Bailey's Progress Report

Mmmmm...STEAK!

Training:

We are seeing some improvements with Bailey’s training. This past Tuesday was a gorgeous day so we spent a lot of time outside. We walked to a nearby park, walked the trail there & jogged some of the way back. When we got home we decided to do a little bit of training on a small grassy area we have outside our apartment. Just last week, grass was enough to keep her distracted to the point where she wanted to ignore us. She has showed some improvement with come and stay. I even got her to come straight to me while passing by her bag of treats (a HUGE accomplishment)! She is doing better with stay, but only if there are no distractions.

Potty Training:

We are making a little bit of progress in this area. She had her first poop accident in the house this week (granted, this was while we were out for 10 hours for work...so I shouldn’t be very disappointed). She has been using her potty pads better and hasn’t been chewing them up as much. She still isn’t good about letting us know she needs to go out. We have seen her sniff around in front of the door a few times. We have to watch her SO closely or we’ll miss it. She doesn’t bark or whine. She just sniffs at the door for a few seconds then she’ll start sniffing elsewhere. This is fine if we’re in the living room...not so fine if I’m cooking dinner :-/ Sometimes she’ll go stand at the glass sliding doors that lead to our balcony. I’m never sure if she just wants us to open it so she can go out there or if she needs to go. We were just opening it so she could go out. She has had 2 accidents out there so we take her out first, then we’ll let her play on the balcony if she still wants.

Remember the Nature’s Miracle mentioned in Bailey’s last progress report? Unfortunately, we’ve already finished the whole bottle! Bailey pees a lot! Anyway, I was talking to a friend about it & she said she started out using it but switched to water & vinegar (1 part vinegar:3 parts water). She said it worked better for her & her dog was never able to smell where she had gone before. I think I’m going to give this a shot. While I like the nice clean smell the Nature’s Miracle has...you can only smell it for a few minutes. At the rate we’re going, we would be spending about $26 a month just for cleaning up her accidents. $1 a month sounds a lot better to me! I’ll be sure to post about how it’s working in next week’s progress report.

Socialization:

We’ve seen small improvements with Bailey around other dogs in our complex. There’s a beautiful Shar-pei Bordeaux mix that lives near us. Her name is Harper and Bailey was terrified of her the first time they met. We saw her out walking again this week and of course Bailey got scared. I picked her up so she could have a chance to sniff her and investigate without feeling so tiny. She did a lot better. When I put her down, she sniffed her for a second. When Harper leaned down to sniff Bailey, she ran behind Josh. It was so adorable. I know this was just a small improvement but I was just glad to see progress since she doesn’t see other dogs on a regular basis right now. Yesterday while I was walking her we ran into two small dogs. She acted scared a little bit then she warmed up to them. It’s kind of cute. She’ll hid behind me or Josh, then kind of peek between our legs. Once she sniffs them a little and licks them a time or two she’s fine unless they make sudden movements toward her...then we start all over. It’s very easy to tell when she’s comfortable with them...she starts barking & wagging her tail. Haha.

She’s also showing a little improvement with people. She still goes crazy if a stranger talks to her or wants to show her attention. She is improving with the people that don’t want anything to do with her. She used to bark & whine if they didn’t pet her. She still pulls on her leash to get to them but if we give her a little tug she will come along. She looks back at them until they’re out of sight or something else catches her attention, but she hasn’t been so vocal about it. Again, baby steps :-)

I know once we get her in a puppy kindergarten class we will see improvements in these areas. I found one that works with our schedule that I like but they only have classes every 10 weeks. The last class started in April. I don’t think I want to wait that long :-/ I have found one that starts the week after we close on our house. We're leaning toward that one now, of course we'll look into it a little more before deciding for sure.

 Sitting by the bedroom door. She knows Josh in still in there sleeping. Cute :-)

Bailey was running toward me while I was on the floor. I was trying to take a picture and she tried to bite at the camera. So...a bit of a funny pic of the inside of her mouth is what I got.

Jackpot!!!

So...I've had the same cheap Eureka vacuum cleaner since I got my first apartment in college. That's been about 4 years ago. Anyway...it blows now. Or almost. Since we're about to get a house with 3 floors of brand new carpet, I knew it was time to break down and get one. Especially since my old one didn't pick up hair well at all. I've been doing a ton of research to try to decide which one to get. Of course Dyson was the first to pop in my head. I especially liked the ball. Since we have Bailey now, I thought it was a good idea to get the animal. I wanted this one. I did not want to spend $550 for a vacuum cleaner. I was trying to figure out if I was willing to sacrifice other things for the house if there were other vacuums out there that could do just as well. I didn't want to spend that much money on just a name. I did some research and talked to some people I know with dogs and I was starting to lean toward this Shark. I knew it might not last long but it's almost $400 cheaper. If it lasted 2 good years I would have been fine. 

I don't like to pay full price for anything. I've been looking around on Craigslist for a while, just to see what kind of deals I could find. There are a TON of things we're going to need to buy very soon and I don't mind getting some of them used. A weedeater for example. Who cares if it's new? Anyway, I saw THE Dyson! I was a little skeptical because it was only $100. The listing said the vacuum itself worked great but the wand attachment had no suction. I thought I would give it a shot as long as I tried out the vacuum & it seemed fine. I really liked the vacuum & I was confident that we could figure out what was going on with the wand for less than $400. 

We brought it home and the first thing I did was break out the Eureka then vacuum over the same areas with the Dyson. This is what I found!

Isn't that disgusting?!?! 

We played around with the wand. I was determined to figure out what was wrong with it because Dyson has some very awesome attachments that I want to get for it. So...what was wrong with it? There is a little flap that opens up when the wand is attached to the vacuum. When you remove it, the flap is supposed to close by itself. It usually doesn't. The flap open with the wand in place is circled below (excuse the thin red line). Right now we have to manually close it. Certainly not a big deal and definitely worth saving $450! We'll play around with it a little more to see if we can fix it so we don't have to worry about anything.

So...other than needing a good cleaning and having to close a little flap if I want to use the attachments, there's nothing wrong with this baby. A $550 Dyson for $100! Definitely the best deal I've ever found :-)

Sweet Potato Rolls

I found this recipe for sweet potato rolls not long before Easter. It does seem like more of a Thanksgiving recipe but I had to try them. They were SO good! 

Ingredients

- 2 c self rising flour

- 3 T brown sugar

- 1/4 t ground cinnamon

- 1/8 t ground allspice

- 1/4 c butter

- 3 T shortening

- 1 c mashed sweet potatoes

- 6 T milk

- 2 T butter, melted (for brushing on biscuits)

Directions

Preheat oven to 400.

Combine flour, brown sugar, cinnamon & allspice in a bowl. 

Cut in 1/4 cup of butter & shortening with fork until blended & crumbly. 

Add mashed sweet potatoes and milk, stir until dry ingredients are moist. (Don't do what I did here and add the melted butter too...you will have to play around and add even more flour to make the dough workable. The melted butter is for brushing over the biscuits.) 

Turn out on a lightly floured surface (I used a cookie sheet to make cleanup easier) and knead a few times. Roll out to about 1/2 thickness.  Cut with a 2 inch cookie or biscuit cutter. Place on un-greased baking sheet and brush with butter. Bake for 12 minutes or until lightly browned.  

Enjoy!

I apologize for the lack of pictures. I intended on doing step by step photos. I just got into the zone I guess :-/

Bailey's Progress Report

I've decided that I'll do a progress report for Bailey each week. It will be a great way for us to look back and see her progress. Hopefully I can help other dog owners too. I'll cover how her training is going, her favorite toys, product reviews, any special activities we've done and anything else I think is relevant. I'll plan on doing this on Fridays...just like in elementary school. Our next month is going to be extremely busy, so it may be posted on Sundays some weekends.

Training

We've been clicker training since Bailey came home. She seems to be doing very well with it. We're working on the basics. Name recognition, sit, stay & come. She's doing pretty well with her name now. She does well with sit, stay & come in the apartment. She does pretty well with sit outside, but we're working on distractions...especially people. She thinks everyone should stop what they're doing to pet her. She LOVES people. She pulls, jumps, you name it, just to get to people. I'm glad she likes people, but we definitely have to work on that.

She isn't as good with other dogs. She's interested, but when they come to sniff her she gets scared. We definitely have to work on socializing her in that area. Just a little bit of a back story here. There is another stray female dog near my dad's house who isn't so nice. She beats up on Bailey's mom. (My dad thinks there's a possibility that she may have attacked some of Bailey's brothers & sisters...I'm SO glad we saved her!) Anyway, I'm hoping she didn't do something to or around Bailey to cause her to be scared of other dogs. It took her some time to get used to the other dogs at my dad's house. We want to put her in puppy kindergarten primarily for this reason. We're comfortable with the progress we're making at home with the training but we don't have any control over if or when she'll see other dogs & people.

Last night I had a girl's night at a friend's house. Josh came over to pick me up and he came in with Bailey for a little while. My friend has a lab. It took Bailey a little bit to warm up to her but she played with her just fine once she did. She's a very vocal little puppy when she's playing. She barks a lot when she's playing with other dogs or even if she's just meeting them. She met another puppy in PetSmart today. She was a 10 week old lab named Kaya. They were adorable once Bailey decided to stop barking at her. They gave each other puppy kisses. Too cute!

Potty Training

She's doing ok during the day while we're at work. We have been leaving her in the bedroom with her crate open. Her time at home alone during the day is around 10 hours 4 days a week. We're not comfortable leaving her in her crate that long. She has had a few potty accidents this week, only one of them was on the potty pad we put down for her. She likes to chew up the potty pads but that's really the only thing she chews. I have sprayed all the furniture with the bitter spray. Either it's working really well or she has no interest in chewing on it. I'm going to assume the spray is working :-) We're using Purina Chew Deterrent. I picked it up from Wal-Mart. You can take my word for it. It's super bitter. She hasn't (knock on wood) had any poop accidents since she's been here. For her potty accidents, we're using Nature's Miracle. It does well with stain removal and odor removal as far as I can tell. Bailey doesn't seem to be able to smell where she has gone before when we use this. It has a nice clean scent. We got ours from PetSmart but I think they have it at Wal-Mart too.

We've been monitoring when she has accidents & what happens before. She hasn't figured out how to tell us she needs to go out. I know she knows she's supposed to go out though. Sometimes she sniffs around first and we can usually catch her then. Sometimes she will be in the middle of running around in circles then just squat. That's obviously a little tougher to catch. She will sometimes go withing 20 or 30 minutes of coming in from a walk. We have noticed that she's had accidents when she gets excited that one of us comes home from work or when one of us wakes up in the morning (after she has already been with the other of us). 

Walking

She's doing pretty well on the leash. She typically only pulls when we're on the way home and she's improving. It can be challenging to get her to walk with us if she's interested in something else. She loves grass. Clumps of grass and tall grass are her favorite. She likes to pick up clumps after the grass has been cut and try to throw it around. She doesn't seem to pay much attention to birds but we still haven't seen any squirrels or anything like that yet. As I mentioned before, she gets crazy when she sees people. That's our biggest obstacle with walking right now. 

Playing/Toys

 Bailey usually gets really hyper after coming in from a potty break. She loves to run around the apartment when we leave the patio door open for her. She will go outside and bark at her reflection in the door. She jumped at it the other day and ran into the door. It was hilarious. I wish I would have been recording, but I'm usually not when she does something really funny. She loves her Kong but she will only play with it for a few minutes if it's empty.

 This is her toy box. She used to try to chew on it when she got her toys out. She's a lot better now. She'll just go poke around in the box, pick a toy and take it out. It's so cute. Eventually I plan to teach her how to put them back up. It doesn't take her long after her naps to drag all of the toys out.